Self-management interventions for adults with stroke: A scoping review

BackgroundStroke is a principal cause of mortality and disability globally. Numerous studies have contributed to the knowledge base regarding self-management interventions among chronic disease patients, but there are few such studies for patients with stroke. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze self-management interventions among stroke patients. This scoping review aimed to systematically identify and describe randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of self-management interventions for adults with stroke.MethodsA review team carried out a scoping review on stroke and self-management interventions based on the methodology of Arksey and O'Malley, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus Full Text, Medline Plus Full Text, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to July 2020.ResultsFifty-four RCTs were included. The most popular study design is comparing a self-management intervention to usual care or waitlist control condition. Physical activity is the most common intervention topic, and interventions were mainly delivered face to face. The majority of interventions were located in inpatient and multiple settings. Interventions were conducted by various providers, with nurses the most common provider group. Symptom management was the most frequently reported outcome domain that improved.ConclusionsSelf-management interventions benefit the symptom management of stroke patients a lot. The reasonable time for intervention is at least 6–12 months. Multifarious intervention topics, delivery formats, and providers are adopted mostly to meet the multiple needs of this population. Physical activity was the most popular topic currently. Studies comparing the effect of different types of self-management interventions are required in the future.     

颅内动脉瘤介入术后脑缺血并发症的相关因素分析

目的分析诱发颅内动脉瘤介入术后脑缺血并发症的因素。方法回顾性分析本院2010年1月～2018年12月35例颅内动脉瘤介入术后脑缺血并发症的患者的临床资料,记为A组;另回顾性分析同时间段41例颅内动脉瘤介入术后未并发脑缺血并发症的患者的临床资料,记为B组。归纳脑缺血并发症的可能影响因素,对比A组与B组差异,并进行Logistic多元回归分析。结果两组患者性别、年龄、病程时间、动脉瘤位置、糖尿病史、蛛网膜下腔出血病史、脑梗死或短暂性脑缺血发作病史、饮酒史、颅内血管狭窄、治疗策略、支架类型、Raymond分级相比较,差异无统计学意义(P0. 05),高血压病史、吸烟史、动脉瘤直径和最大径相比较,差异有统计学意义(P 0. 05); Logistic回归分析结果提示,高血压、吸烟、动脉瘤最大径 10 mm为颅内动脉瘤介入术后脑缺血并发症的独立风险因素(P 0. 05)。结论高血压、吸烟、动脉瘤最大径 10 mm为颅内动脉瘤介入术后脑缺血并发症的独立危险因素。     

下肢静脉曲张术后并发静脉血栓的有效护理干预

目的:分析对下肢静脉曲张术后并发静脉血栓患者的有效护理干预措施。方法:以2019年6月~2019年6月我院收治的42例下肢静脉曲张患者为研究对象,随机分为两组,各21例,对照组常规护理,实验组实施有效护理干预,对比护理效果。结果:对照组下肢静脉曲张术后患者的并发深静脉血栓发生率高于实验组患者,差异具备统计学价值;实验组下肢静脉曲张术后患者的护理满意度高于对照组患者,差异显著且具备统计学意义。结论:下肢静脉曲张术后实施有效护理干预可降低并发静脉血栓发生率,同时提升患者护理满意度,有效改善患者预后,促进患者康复,也有利于维护良好的护患关系,因此应在临床实践中对有效护理干预进行推广与普及。     

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances learning of novel letter-sound relationships in adults

BackgroundReading is a critical skill in modern society but is significantly more difficult to acquire during adulthood. Many adults are required to learn a new orthography after this window closes for personal or vocational reasons and while many programs and training methods exist for learning to read in adulthood, none result in native-like fluency. Implantable cervical vagus nerve stimulation is capable of driving neural plasticity but is invasive and not practical as a reading intervention.ObjectiveThe goal of the current study was to evaluate whether non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is effective at enhancing novel orthography acquisition in young adults.MethodsWe enrolled 37 typically developing participants and randomly assigned them to a computer control, device sham control, earlobe stimulation control, or experimental transcutaneous auricular stimulation (taVNS) group. Participants then learned novel letter-sound correspondences in Hebrew over five training lessons. Performance was assessed using three measures to evaluate various aspects of reading: Letter ID, Automaticity, and Decoding.ResultsThe taVNS group significantly outperformed the three control groups on both the Automaticity and Decoding tasks. There was no difference on the Letter ID task.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate, for the first time, that taVNS is capable of improving aspects of reading acquisition in adults. These findings have potential implications for a wide range of cognitive tasks.     

Patterns of intervention utilization among school-aged children on the autism spectrum: Findings from a multi-site research consortium

When designing and interpreting results from clinical trials evaluating treatments for children on the autism spectrum, a complicating factor is that most children receive a range of concurrent treatments. Thus, it is important to better understand the types and hours of interventions that participants typically receive as part of standard of care, as well as to understand the child, family, and geographic factors that are associated with different patterns of service utilization. In this multi-site study, we interviewed 280 caregivers of 6-to-11-year-old school-aged children on the autism spectrum about the types and amounts of interventions their children received in the prior 6 weeks. Reported interventions were coded as “evidence-based practice” or “other interventions,” reflecting the level of empirical support. Results indicated that children received a variety of interventions with varying levels of empirical evidence and a wide range of hours (0–79.3 h/week). Children with higher autism symptom levels, living in particular states, and who identified as non-Hispanic received more evidence-based intervention hours. Higher parental education level related to more hours of other interventions. Children who were younger, had lower cognitive ability, and with higher autism symptom levels received a greater variety of interventions overall. Thus, based on our findings, it would seem prudent when designing clinical trials to take into consideration a variety of factors including autism symptom levels, age, cognitive ability, ethnicity, parent education and geographic location. Future research should continue to investigate the ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic influences on school-aged intervention services.     

E-Sexual Health: A Position Statement of the European Society for Sexual Medicine

BackgroundOpportunities and pitfalls of e-health have been described and assessed in various health domains, but in the field of sexual health, the respective literature is limited.AimThe aim of this document is to present the European Society of Sexual Medicine’s (ESSM) current position statement on e-sexual health.MethodsThis statement article is an expert opinion–based proposal that was developed under the auspices of the ESSM with input from the e-sexual health subcommittee of the ESSM Scientific Committee.OutcomesESSM statements were provided on four domains: health information for patients, e-learning for professionals, health interventions, and health research.Resultse-Sexual health is the use of information and communication technologies for sexual health including sexual health care, surveillance, education, knowledge, and research. Quality indicators have to be applied on Web pages that provide sexual health information, e-learning can increase educational opportunities for professionals, online treatment interventions can be effective but needs to be available to the public, and online health research can provide access to difficult to reach populations.Clinical ImplicationsThe ESSM acknowledges the necessity for the use of information and communication technologies to meet the sexual health needs of citizens and patients and also the professional needs of sexual healthcare providers, in an evidence-based manner.Strengths & LimitationsESSM statements on this topic were provided based on expert opinion and summarize the ESSM position in this field.ConclusionThe ESSM believes that e-sexual health can provide opportunities for the improvement of the sexual health of the population.Kirana PS, Gudeloglu A, Sansone A, et al. E-Sexual Health: A Position Statement of the European Society for Sexual Medicine. J Sex Med 2020;17;1246–1253.     

Interventions to Reduce Anticholinergic Burden in Adults Aged 65 and Older: A Systematic Review

IntroductionOlder age is associated with multimorbidity and polypharmacy with high anticholinergic burden (ACB). High ACB is linked to adverse events such as poor physical functioning, dementia, cardiovascular disease, and falls. Interventions are needed to reduce this burden.Aims/ObjectivesThe aim was to systematically review the literature to identify and describe studies of clinical and cost-effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce ACB in adults (≥65 years) on polypharmacy regimes, compared with usual care. The objective was to answer the following questions: What are the contents of the interventions? Were these interventions clinically effective? Were these interventions cost effective?.Design, setting, and participantsSystematic review of interventions to reduce anticholinergic burden in adults aged 65 and older in any clinical setting.MethodsEligible papers reported primary or secondary research describing any type of intervention including systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials, or nonrandomized pre-post intervention studies (PPIs) published in English from January 2010 to February 2019. Databases searched included CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL).ResultsThe search yielded 5862 records. Eight studies (4 RCTs, 4 PPIs) conducted in hospital (4), community (2), nursing homes (1), and retirement villages (1) met the inclusion criteria. Pharmacists, either individually or as part of a team, provided the intervention in the majority of studies (6/8). Most (7/8) involved individual patient medication review followed by feedback to the prescriber. Two of the 4 RCTs and all non-RCTs reported a decrease in ACB following the intervention. No study reported cost outcome.Conclusions/ImplicationsPharmacists may be well placed to implement an ACB reduction intervention. This is the first systematic review of interventions to reduce ACB in older adults, and it highlights the need for development and testing of high-quality pragmatic clinical and cost-effectiveness trials in community and specific patient populations at high risk of harm from ACB.[PROSPERO registration: CRD42018089764].     

Systematic review and meta-analysis of fear of falling and fall-related efficacy in a widely disseminated community-based fall prevention program

BackgroundFear of falling restricts mobility and increases fall risk among older adults. Fall-related efficacy (i.e. the confidence to perform activities without falling), a construct related to fear of falling, has also been associated with active living and fall prevention. This study statistically synthesized the program effects of A Matter of Balance Volunteer Lay Leader (AMOB/VLL) model, designed to improve fall-related efficacy and promote daily activities among community-dwelling older adults.MethodsResearch articles and doctoral dissertations that examined the effect of the AMOB/VLL on fear of falling and fall-related efficacy were searched from multiple databases. A random effects model was used to compute mean weighted effect sizes, 95 % CIs, and heterogeneity (I²). Bias was examined through a funnel plot and Egger’s test. Factors associated with heterogeneity were also explored.ResultsSeventeen AMOB/VLL studies involving 3,860 participants were identified. The pooled effects of the 13 studies with sufficient information for effect size calculation, were −0.29 (95 % CI: −0.40, −0.19) for fear of falling and 0.51 (95 % CI: 0.42, 0.60) for fall-related efficacy. Effect sizes differed partially due to outcome measures of fall-related efficacy. Covariate adjustment and study quality were not associated with differences in effect sizes. No substantial evidence of asymmetry and publication bias was found.ConclusionThis study provides evidence supporting AMOB/VLL as an effective intervention for reducing fear of falling and improving fall-related efficacy. A greater consistency in outcome measures is needed to optimally capture changes in fear of falling and fall-related efficacy among community-dwelling older adults.